Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Digestive Health: Probiotics. How much?

General GAPS Guidelines:

"Build the dose of your probiotic slowly. Start from a very small amount. Observe the patient for any “die-off” symptoms (including, but not limited to fatigue, nausea, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, low grade fever, headache, and flu like symptoms).

If there are none then, increase the dose. When you see a reaction, let your patient settle on this dose until the die-off symptoms disappear. Then increase the dose again and let the patient settle on it. Keep increasing the dose until a therapeutic level is reached. This period of building up the dose can take from a few weeks to a few months in different patients.

• An adult should have around 15-20 billion of bacterial cells per day (8-10 capsules).
• An infant up to 12 months of age can have 1-2 billion of bacterial cells per day (1 capsule).
• A toddler from 1 to 2 years of age can have 2-4 billion of bacterial cells per day (1-2 capsules).
• A child from 2 to 4 years of age can handle 4-8 billion of bacterial cells per day (2-4 capsules).
• A child from 4 to 10 years of age can have 8-12 billion of bacterial cells per day (4-6 capsules).
• From the age of 12 to 16 we can increase the dose to 12-15 billion per day (6-8 capsules).

Once the patient has reached the therapeutic dose level it should be maintained for approximately six months on average.

It takes at least this length of time to remove the pathogenic flora and start re-establishing normal gut flora. Adhering to the diet is absolutely essential in this period. If you continue the feeding of your pathogens in the gut with sugar and processed carbohydrates then the probiotic will not have much chance of helping you."

Some of the key bacteria Dr. McBride recommends are:

• L. Acidophilus
• L. Plantarum
• L. Rhamnosus
• B. Bifidum
• B. Longum


Apparantly Bio-Kult is a probiotic brand Dr. McBride recommends. But I think any high quality, multi strained, billion-count probiotic should do. (Such as Garden of Life's Primal Defense brand or others.)

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